holy guacamole! i heard that the roads were bad, but this is basically off roading. yes, i know im visiting during the monsoon season but even it there was no rain i cant imagine the roads to be much of an improvement. its dirt and mud everywhere, not much different on or off the road.

anyways we are here and some how in one piece. the only fast way to get to the city of Ban Lung is by way of share taxis. this usually means that 8 people pack it into a 1980s toyota camry. gas is expensive you know. it is done by four up front and four in the back. the back is self explanatory, but if your were wondering about the front, well, one and a half people/persons sit on the passenger seat and the other half of a person is sitting bitch in the front (excuse my language too difficult and lazy to find a better way to describe the situation). then the driver shares his seat with a passenger. take in mind that they are sitting side by side and that he is driving a manual and not an automatic car! i must say that they got super skills, given the ridiculous conditions of the roads and inside the car. we got lucky and only had six adults and one baby in the car. however, we had to pay for the extra spot. the bad part is that many people in the villages have never ridden in automobiles, so they get motion sickness. the mother with the baby in the back sitting with us must have thrown-up at least five separate times.

anyways the city of banlung is not really a nice place, unless you want to go on jungle treks, the problem is that they are pretty damn expensive starting at around $120USD per day and up if i remember correctly. the city itself is always covered in a smokey fog, from all the burning of trash. so basically as long as your in or near the city it smells real bad!

there are a few sights like water falls and this really gigantic and nice freshwater lagoon/inactive volcano. we felt like we owned the place, just like your own backyard, because we were the only people there at most of the places. thankyou monsoon season!

o yeah, and to reiterate how bad the roads are, we actually fell off of our mototaxi. of course, this was in muddy conditions so we were not going that fast and luckily didnt get hurt too bad. got a minor cut and burned my leg on the exhaust pipe. luckily the exhaust was covered with dirt or else my skin might have stuck onto it!